The
stream that leads into the San Sebastian River in the poor and tiny
Central American country of El Salvador runs bright yellow, not for
the gold in the mine nearby but for the chemical byproducts which
leach into the water. That stream is emblematic in a fight between an
Australian mining company and the El Salvador government, over
whether there should be gold mining in the country.
If
El Salvador wins this fight, it will preserve a bipartisan policy on
mining, a country’s right to make policy generally, and to protect
its main water supply in particular.
If
it loses, then a foreign mining company will be able to ride
roughshod over the country’s democratic process and prosecute a
financial claim that could send its government broke.
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